WWE: The Raw women’s division needs to establish some new stars
The Fatal Four-Way Elimination match to determine the number one contender for the WWE Raw Women’s Champion put some much-needed attention on female superstars. Unfortunately, the crowd turned on it halfway through.
Natalya, Naomi, Carmella, and Alexa Bliss faced off in a Fatal Four-Way Elimination match to decide who would challenge Becky Lynch at SummerSlam. It was a solid match with some enjoyable highlights, particularly the exchanges between Nattie and Naomi. However, it was hard to ignore how arbitrary the collection opponents and the circumstances felt.
The live audience eventually lost interest and started chanting “This is awful,” among other things. Alexa Bliss weighed in on the chants later via Twitter, calling the behavior “disrespectful.” There is a conversation to be had about proper conduct at live events. Albeit, it appeared the crowd appeared to respond that way because the match went on a little too long.
Now, this isn’t to say women should continue to participate in meaningless short matches. The problem was the match spanned several commercial breaks and this new format where WWE adds stipulations to pause matches during ads dragged it out. It may not have seemed that long to viewers at home, but it must have been a chore for fans in the arena.
With that said, the larger problem is WWE didn’t give fans a reason to feel emotionally invested in most of the competitors in the match. Naomi and Bliss both have a vocal fanbase, but neither of them has done much of note on Raw since April. Bliss has been more involved on SmackDown, but many fans weren’t clamoring to see her get another title shot this soon.
In short, the Raw women’s division was destined to struggle after Ronda Rousey laid waste to it and the company didn’t take the time to build anyone back up. Even more, the brand lost a lot of star power after WrestleMania due to the Superstar Shake-Up or injuries. Sasha Banks’ absence is also a contributing factor.
That’s even more reason why WWE should’ve spent the last few months putting the women who are available in mid-card feuds. That way the next challenger after Lacey Evans would’ve had some momentum and fan support.
Speaking of Evans, her feud with Becky Lynch probably lasted too long and she didn’t have to earn her last two title shots. At least if there was some focus on who would become the number one contender each time that would give viewers a chance to get behind someone else in the process.
Natalya, who won the opportunity to challenge Lynch at SummerSlam, is a worthy contender. “The Queen of Harts” presents a good test for the champion. She has the in-ring ability and experience to push The Man to her limits in a way that Evans couldn’t. Moreover, a competitive match between the two could be just the shot in the arm Becky’s reign and the division could use right not.
Nevertheless, can you blame anyone who felt disappointed with this outcome or even the possibility? Natalya doesn’t really have much of a character right now. If the company won’t invest enough time to make someone interesting or even a compelling threat, why should they expect some of their audience to care?
It’s easy to attempt to blame this on the Long Island crowd, and possibly assume they wanted to hijack the sole women’s match on the card. That doesn’t seem to be the case though. The second Lynch got involved at the end, they popped for her.
There are some bad seeds here and there, but WWE fans want to support the women’s roster. The company hasn’t been given them much of a reason to lately.
Next. Don’t be surprised if Becky Lynch vs. Natalya is awesome. dark
It’s a real disservice to the talent. They all did their part, but they were given the uphill task of trying to win that crowd over without much to build upon. They deserve better. If WWE doesn’t find a way to establish new stars on Raw soon, they will run into this same problem after SummerSlam.